Caelum's POV
I've rehearsed this conversation a dozen times on the ride here, building careful sentences meant to explain myself without sounding like I'm asking to be forgiven for something I don't think deserves forgiveness. None of it survives the moment I'm actually standing in front of her.
"I'm not going to apologize the way I probably owe you," I say, and I hear my own voice come out rougher than I intended. "I don't think there's a version of that apology large enough to match what I did, and I'd rather not insult you by offering something smaller dressed up as enough."
Sera watches me steadily, none of the old deference in her posture, none of the careful smallness I remember from three years of watching her navigate rooms that never fully welcomed her. "Say what you came to sa
